FTSE 100 closes lower; HSBC, oil shares under pressure

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.K. stocks suffered a third session of losses on Tuesday, weighed down as heavyweight HSBC continued to sting in the wake of allegations it advised clients on ways to avoid paying taxes in their home countries, and as commodity stocks took another fall.

The FTSE 100 index
UKX, +0.62%
pared earlier losses, but still closed down 0.1% at 6,829.12.

A broker downgrade hit shares of Royal Mail Group PLC
RMG, -1.38%
The mail carrier lost nearly 5% after J.P. Morgan Cazenove cut it to neutral from overweight, citing a “diminished risk/reward profile” and concerns about a near-term decline in consensus estimates.

On the plus side, retail-oriented stocks were higher, with Marks & Spencer Group PLC
MKS, +0.00%
among advancers. Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC
MRW, -0.04%
and Tesco PLC
TSCO, +0.53%
jumped after market researcher Kantar Worldpanel reported that the grocery sector in the U.K. grew at 1.1%, the fastest rate of growth since June 2014.

Tesco returned to growth for the first time since January 2014, and Morrison’s sales fell by 0.4%, which was the best performance from the retailer since December 2013, Kantar said.

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